1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power drill sharpener, and more specifically to a power drill sharpener having a push-in point splitting port and a tube designed to collect debris generated in a drill sharpening process.
2. Description of Related Art
Drill sharpeners are known for use in industrial environments. In high-volume manufacturing operations, high-quality, precision drill sharpeners, even though quite expensive to purchase, are recognized as being cost effective devices. The use of a drill sharpener will prolong the effective life of a drill, thereby reducing costs by reducing consumption of the drill bits, and using sharp drill bits improves production quality and yield of products requiring bores or holes to be drilled therein during the production process. Further details relating to the economics of employing a high quality drill sharpener can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,546, issued to Christian and Bernard.
The benefits of high quality drill sharpeners have also been appreciated by smaller-volume operations, such as machine shops, other small businesses, and by individual craftsmen and hobbyists who use drills frequently. The high cost of precision drill sharpeners historically rendered them less cost effective, due to the lower volume of drilling being performed. In addition, the industrial drill sharpeners are quite large, having a grinding wheel on the order of six (6) inches or more in diameter, with the overall unit having a footprint (area of a surface taken up by the unit resting thereon) of several square feet. Many small businesses, and certainly hobbyists, would not normally have adequate space to set up such a unit, even if it were somewhat cost effective.
Recently, advancements have been made, by one or more of the inventors named herein, in the design of drill sharpeners, with the specific purpose of reducing the size and manufacturing cost of the unit, while maintaining the precision at an acceptable level, and without sacrificing features related to setup and alignment which make the sharpeners easy to use and reliable. Those advancements have resulted in making high quality drill sharpeners available to a larger market that includes the lower volume operations, small businesses, craftsman and hobbyists. The less expensive, but still precise, sharpeners are also even more cost effective, which further broadens the potential market. U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,732, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein, discloses a drill sharpener configuration which incorporates the advancements which yield a compact, less expensive, precise, and reliable drill sharpener suited for lower volume work.